Building Sector – Growth against the Background of Decline – FBK Study of “How Much is Russia?”

Another stage of evaluation of the economic sectors in Russia conducted by the FBK analysts under the project of “How much is Russia?” was devoted to the building industry.

The building sector as compared to the industry and agriculture calculated earlier showed the cost increase by 1.2 times – up to 351.1 bn roubles (in 2012 prices).

The share of gross added value of construction in the country’s economy is significant; it has grown for the last decade from 5.4% in 2002 to 6.8% in 2012. For comparison – for European countries this indicator is 5.9% (2012).
The number of construction organizations rocketed from 113 ths in 2002 to 205 ths in 2012, i.e. by 1.8 times. The construction entities’ basic form of property is still private and that share is on the rise: from 90.7% in 2002 to 98.1% in 2012 of the total number of construction organizations.

The dynamics of the fixed assets structural changes was very interesting. Constructions and buildings still occupy an essential part – 35.6% as in 2012 г. Their share has decreased since 2002 when it was 40%. The decrease is due to a significant reduction of the portion of constructions in the building sector from 29.6% in 2002 to 13.7% in 2012. The share of machinery and equipment increases from 40% in 2002 to 42.7% in 2012, and the share of vehicles also grew from 13.8% in 2002 to 19% in 2012. So, the active fixed assets in construction have increased and the passive decreased. That is a positive change as it is evident that the gross added value is generated, first of all, at the expense of the active part of fixed assets.

The annual average number of the employed in construction has grown by 26.6% for the last decade from 4 458 ths people in 2002 to 5 642 ths people in 2012. The share of the employed in the construction has increased against the total number of those engaged in the economy from 6.8% in 2002 to 8.3% in 2012. It is worth noting that the proportion of women engaged in the construction sector has essentially decreased from 25% to 14.8%.”That is a very positive change and quite a pleasant surprise, because you know how harmful many construction employments are, points out Igor Nikolayev, the FBK Institute of Strategic Development Director, the head of the study.

When analyzing the reasons for the increase in the construction cost over the last 10 years the FBK analysts note that in 2003-2008 the annual rates of growth of the scope of works in construction exceeded 10%, and in 2006-2007 as much as 18%. That also showed on the predictive estimates, which is important for calculating the value by using discounted income.

Full text of the “Building Sector” can be found at the study site: skolko.ru